Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

City league draws young hoopsters

Christina Calloway

Portales city league basketball keeps about 600 children from all over the county active and engaged with the community, despite the lack of gym space for league teams.

Portales city sports Director Mike Door says they try to make the basketball league fundamental and skill-building for all participants that range from grades one through six.

Games take place every Saturday at the Portales Middle School, Lindsey-Steiner, and Valencia Elementary gyms between December and February. Each leagues has a set cost and basketball costs $35 per participant.

According to Door, although the basketball league has been a success for the community, it struggles because there is not enough gym space for teams to practice especially because basketball is the largest city league sport.

“If I had my way, I’d love to practice these teams every single day for an hour after school but because of our gym shortage, a lot of these teams get one practice per week for one hour,” Door said.

Portales city sports uses Portales’ school gyms for practices and games.

Here is what some of the players had to say: